8 things I have learned in Direct Sales or Network Marketing – advice from a Pro.

Let’s be short and sweet. This is why you should listen to me. I’ve been in the business 4 years, I have the best mentors in the world, and I’ve been able to quit my job, earned multiple trips to exotic and faraway destinations, I was the number one director in my company at my level before I’d even been in the business 3.5 years, I have a $40,000 Benz getting delivered to me in 2-3 weeks, and I’ve tripled what I used to make working 60 hour weeks. If you haven’t done as much as that, or more, then you should listen to my advice.

1. Don’t be that guy. Get a mentor who knows how to do this and not make an ass of themselves, and don’t use facebook to tag people who didn’t ask to be tagged, to endlessly promote your shit online and to ask people to buy from you 17 times a day. Learn how to use Facebook the RIGHT way. You should check out this article and then start following my great friend Brian P Cook, because if you want to be cool AND be in multi level marketing of any kind and not have people shun you in the grocery store, or unfollow you on facebook, then you Don’t want to be THAT guy. And also, don’t be like those Amway people that invite you to a dinner party they didn’t tell you was a sales presentation. Just be honest with your friends. Say hey, this is a business call, or hey this is a friend call. Then they won’t hate you. And by the way, MAKE NON BUSINESS CALLS. Have fun, and be social.

2. This is going to take effort. More in the beginning than in the end. And you need to train yourself. You can’t start this and have success without training. No one gets a job anywhere and has success on day one without training. Most people pay thousands upon thousands of dollars for a college degree (and some they never use) and then still need on-the-job training. So stop thinking it’s going to fall in your lap.

3. You’re going to hit walls. First I hit walls when I had cancellations. Now I hit walls as a coach, and don’t know what to do when my team won’t engage or when they start training their recruits and the message gets scrambled down the line. FIND A MENTOR. In this business, it’s just monkey see monkey do. Someone who has been in the business longer than you has been where you are. The only reason they are having success and you aren’t (or aren’t having as much), is that they found a way through the problem. Don’t think you have to go it alone – you don’t have to come up with your own solutions. Just ask them, they’re happy to help. Because after all, in these Pyramid companies (and PS – what company doesn’t have a few people at the top and lots of people at the bottom?) they won’t make money unless you make money.

4. Understand the 10% rule. When I first started this business, my mentor told me – remember the 10% rule. Only 10% of people are going to do anything with this. Anything AT ALL. Not that only 10% are going to get rich, that 10% are going to even put in effort. And only 10% of those 10% are going to have amazing success! I thought this odd, but then I started applying the 10% rule to life – it’s not just in this business – it’s in everything. About 10% of employees make a place worthwhile. About 10% of your friends are really really truly reliable! One time I told my great friend about the 10% rule, and he shot back a quote to me from THOUSANDS of years ago. It’s a quote from Heraclitus, who was born 535 years before Christ (or Before Common Era if you’re like that). The 10% rule has been around for THAT LONG!

“Out of every one hundred men, ten shouldn’t even be there, eighty are just targets, nine are the real fighters, and we are lucky to have them, for they make the battle. Ah, but the one, one is a warrior, and he will bring the others back.”

5. Breaks are good and breaks are bad. You need work/life balance for sure, and who wants to make all this money if you aren’t going to have fun, but you have to have discipline. ESPECIALLY when you are starting up, you really have to work on this every day. You can’t only focus on it 2 days a month. It just doesn’t work like that. Spend 30 minutes a day on your business, AT LEAST. What does that mean? That means 30 minutes a day talking to people and promoting yourself. This does NOT mean 30 minutes puking on facebook. It means TALKING to humans who are new prospects, old clients who you are giving service to, or getting reorders. Hell, even a thank you for your business call here and there. But what you CAN’T DO. What you ABSOLUTELY MUST NOT DO is work half ass at it. Because not only does what you do now, echo into your business for the next 60-90 days (that’s good and bad echoes alike), but when you take a break and you haven’t created residuals yet, you are STARTING OVER AT GROUND ZERO EVERY TIME!

6. You have to invest in your products. You can’t sell things you don’t use and enjoy. You must be a product of your product. I sell skincare and makeup. I have team members who don’t even order enough every month to cover what they should be USING in a month. Yet they tell me they are trying to build a business. Guess what? None of them are having success. I don’t mean stockpile and order just to order. I just mean, USE and become familiar with your products and TALK ABOUT THEM with LOVE and PASSION. People will feel this! Then they WILL BUY!

7. You have to invest in yourself. This is really just a personal growth business masked by some sort of merchandising. The people who make lots of money at this are the people that are becoming better humans every day. They are learning to communicate better, they are learning to position themselves in the market, they are learning to coach, they are becoming more patient, and wise, and they’re wasting less time on useless pursuits and more time on MEANINGFUL LIVES.

8. NOs are a good thing. You have to learn to get NOs, because when you get really good at getting NOs, suddenly they turn into YESses! Baseball players who bat a 400 (that means just 4 out of 10) get paid millions between their team contracts and endorsements. I can’t say it ANY better than this guy, so just watch this.

Do you agree? If you are having success in Network Marketing, I would love to know what you would add to this list. If you’re not, and you have questions – then ASK ME! And as always, if you found value in this blog, please share and comment! I appreciate you!